It's falcons v seagulls at Hempsted tip in Gloucester
GULLS are meeting their match in Gloucester as experts battle to rid the city of the pests.
An estimated 60,000 gulls have disappeared from Hempsted tip after owners Cory Environmental employed falcons to get rid of them.
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Carole Carpenter, resident, Councillor Paul Toleman and Dave Tonks, falconer, with the hybrid falcon used to scare off gulls in Brunswick Square.
It has been running alongside Gloucester City Council's programme, since 2003, of oiling eggs to prevent baby gulls from hatching.
Falconer Dave Tonks has been using his birds to cull gulls at the tip seven days a week for a year. He used falcons, which fly above the gulls, stoop down and pin the gulls to the ground where they were dispatched.
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He said that from tens of thousands, there are now very few left at the tip. Yesterday, he used birds of prey to scare and dispatch gulls nesting in Brunswick Square at the request of a housing association.
He said: "The falcons are very effective but we don't allow the falcons to eat them. We also leave the falcons tied to their perches for half a day as a deterrent to the seagulls."
MP Richard Graham, who lives in the square and called gulls "birds of mass destruction" in Parliament last year, said: "I congratulate them for taking action rather than sitting back and expecting someone else to do so." Last year, Gloucester City Council said there were up to 60,000 gulls were feasting on Hempsted landfill – one gull for every two people in the city.
A spokesman for Gloucester City Council said their efforts to combat gulls breeding in the city remained egg oiling and egg replacement tactics.
Chris Brown, of Cory Environmental, which runs the tip, said: "Cory Environmental has been working closely with Gloucester City Council, Gloucestershire County Council and the Environment Agency to control gull numbers at Hempsted landfill site since August 2011."
Comments
by cortezcortez
Friday, June 15 2012, 8:02PM
“Seagulls eat junk food. People who eat junk food chuck what's left on the street or out the car window
The more takeaways & drive-throughs we have the more seagulls we will have”
by BigBatch21
Friday, June 15 2012, 3:17PM
“Instead of spending years and god knows how much money with schemes like this, I have a better idea.
Just shoot the saegulls!”
by Library_User
Friday, June 15 2012, 2:38PM
“"An estimated 60,000 gulls have disappeared from Hempsted tip" - Where have they gone? Are they just being driven into the city centre? They haven't just vanished.”
by JBNTS
Friday, June 15 2012, 8:46AM
“Mass extermination of burger munching residents does seem a tad harsh, but if it denies the Gulls easy pickings then they'll probably move on.”
by jeno2011
Thursday, June 14 2012, 11:15PM
“We do need radical action and falcons seem like the answer. Seagulls are dirty, poisonous creatures and belong at sea- eating fish, not chips and half-eaten beef burgers thrown away by morons on a night out. I advocate mass extermination with high-powered rifles and if this offends the ignorant do-gooders then hard luck. These birds would soon realise that Gloucester is a bad place to be.”
by ShorterNews
Thursday, June 14 2012, 9:09PM
“ghiabelinda -
the pigeons have NOT been here longer than humans. They are a feral subspecies.”
by bdbear
Thursday, June 14 2012, 6:52PM
“Why is thios sort of deterrent not being used in the city . The oiling of eggs does not seem to be reducing the population very much or very quickly . I my car to the city today now covered in bird mess , no wonder people dont shop in Glos with all the bird mess around”
by Duncan_Flange
Thursday, June 14 2012, 5:00PM
“ghiabelinda, you are totally right. We should abandon all towns and cities and let the seagulls and pigeons to have the run of the place. Mankind should live in caves (careful not to displace any bats or bears though) and eat nothing but nuts and berries. It's nice to hear a sane voice such as yours in this debate.”
by ghiabelinda
Thursday, June 14 2012, 4:09PM
“you people are quite sickening and selfish, any thing that moves and is not human must be eradicated according to you what right has any one got to take a life animal or human, makes me see red, another species about to be wiped out by people who think only they should live on the earth. the gulls like pigeons have been here longer than us we are in their territory not vice versa.
and look what the pigeons did in the war 60,000 seems a lot for falcons to dispose of, you sure they didnt get any help ?”
by timmy0811
Thursday, June 14 2012, 10:45AM
“This is only moving them from A to B. They will relocate so the problem is not solved, just passed on.”